Plane Crashes Into Mobile Home, Kills Pilot

A pilot flying from St. Paul, MN to Glens Falls, NY on Saturday diverted to Traverse City, MI due to bad weather and crashed after missing an approach into Cherry Capital Airport (TVC). The plane went down about 18 miles east of Traverse City, just south of Kalkaska.

Data provided by online flight tracking site FlightAware.com reveals that N6053B, a two-year-old Cessna 206H, departed South St. Paul Municipal Airport (SGS) at 10:16 am CST on an instrument flight plan, its destination Glen Falls, NY (GFL). The aircraft's ground track and altitude information suggests the pilot encountered adverse weather and tried to climb above it before diverting the flight to TVC.

FAA spokesman Ron Hubbard said the pilot attempted to land at TVC shortly before the crash. "Our controllers cleared him to land (but) he couldn't see the runway," Hubbard said.

After missing the approach, the pilot proceeded northeast toward Elk Rapids, where TVC tower temporarily lost radar contact with the plane. When it reappeared on radar, the plane was heading toward the Kalkaska area. "Nobody could reach him," and then "everybody lost contact with him," Hubbard said.

Outside shoveling snow, witnesses Scott Stanford and Justin Rider of rural Kalkaska observed the Cessna circling overhead, clipping a stand of pine trees, and eventually crashing into their mobile home at about 2:15 pm CST. "We had just stepped out maybe two minutes before it went right into our house," Stanford said.

The two men ran for cover as the plane (type shown above) impacted their home, scattering debris and coming to rest near a pole barn. "A door about 10 feet above flew right over me," Rider said. "It was crazy." The mobile home was severely damaged by the crash.

Kalkaska County Sheriff Bill Artress identified the pilot only as a 47-year-old male from Lake George, NY. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported.

The incident is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

(Lower image from FlightAware.com )

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov, www.flightaware.com